David Suchet Poirot

Retranscription sur Pages du site www.bricksite.
com/davidsuchet Sanna Hechmann January 2008(Danemark)

POIROT AND ME
A documentary on David Suchets portrayal of Hercule
Poirot, broadcast in a Poirot-marathon on UK television.
ITV3 devoted an entire weekend in
November 2006 to David Suchets
n e a r l y 2 0 y e a r s o f
outstanding portrayal of the
bloody little Belgian by running
bac k- t o- bac k e pi s ode s of
Poirot. They were introduced by
Suchet (pre-recorded) and among
them were The ABC Murders, Death
on the Nile, Sad Cypress, The
Mystery of the Blue Train, The
Mystery of the Spanish Chest, The
Mysterious Affair at Styles, The
Chocolate Box, Death in the Clouds,
The Underdog, Lord Edgware Dies,
The Hollow...
How It All Began Part 1
About a serious talk with Anthony
Hicks, a perfect bow tie and developing
the character...

My Most Intriguing Mystery Part 2
Something that has to do with the
alphabet... and a 'nose-job'...

My Most Humorous Episode Part 3
Not necessarily Suchets own favourite,
but one of the audiences. If I say a Poirot
in disguise, you might associate to
something veiled...
My Favourite Male Star
Part 4
Actually its two...
My All Time Favourite
Part 5
Takes place on a Steamboat...

My Loneliness As Poirot Part 6
A touching view on Poirots loss in life...

My Favourite Leading Lady Part 7
There are many, but one in particular of interest...

Poirot Almost Gets It Wrong Part 8
Poirot is always right, he cant be wrong! But sometimes he
admits, hes an imbecile...

My Most Challenging Location Part 9
Collapsing in the heat... - and too little space in a train...

Retranscription du site Web :
http://www.bricksite.com/davidsuchet
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David Suchet :
PAO Pascale Cuynat 2008
Retranscription sur Pages du site www.bricksite.com/davidsuchet Sanna Hechmann January 2008(Danemark)
How it all began...

Suchet: Because I had been lots of
different characters, this was going to
be another character... I started to go
back to the books, and I met a little
man that Ive never met before in any
of the lms. What I didnt know was,
that I was the choice of the Agatha
Christie estate, the family. Rosalind
Hicks, the daughter of Agatha
Christie, and her husband, Anthony
Hicks, wanted to meet me and have
lunch, and they said how pleased they
were that I was going to do Hercule
Poirot, and all of a sudden the
conversation became incredibl y
serious... In fact Anthony Hicks looked
at me, and his nger, like this [Suchet
pointing] - and he said: "We do not
want anybody to laugh at Poirot...
They can laugh with Poirot, they can
smile with Poirot because of his
eccentricities, but he is not a clown,
and I want you to take him very
seriously... "
I had learned how to do bow ties,
when I was out of work actor. I used
to get tips from Americans. Yeah
[nodding], they used to tip me, if I
could tie their bow tie and teach them
how to. Little did I know [laughing]
that this was all wonderful training
[laughing even more] for a
career... [becomes serious again] -
but there you are, and I would do my
own bow tie, and... and the bow tie
had to be perfect... In fact somebody
said to me: But its so perfect that it
could be a made-up one... - and I
knew then [putting his head on one
side, pointing a nger and screw up
one eye] I got it right... Because for
Poirot it had to be that perfect
[smiling].
Suchet showing Anthony Hicks'
pointing nger during their lunch-
meeting
and I knew then I got it right...
Part 1 : How it all began
2
The rst day - oh, gosh, I remember it, because it was... I think it
was... Edward Bennett and myself discussed the r... how would we
introduce Poirot!
And together we knew, we should start with the shoes... And there was
a camera movement, when you saw the spats, up my leg, and you saw
the crease in my trousers, and then it came up, and I think, if I
remember correctly, you could see the fob-watch and the waistcoat,
ant then it would come up, come up... What I do remember vividly
with the production values... and I remember leaving my dressing
room one day, and we saw this big crane-[?] [near? on?] the Albert
Bridge, and I looked at Hugh, and Hugh looked at me, and ac...
actually I think it was Hugh that said to me... [in a low voice] My God,
they are spending money on this... and I looked and
thought... [even lower voice]... He's right...
And I remember another moment in that rst episode. I was in a taxi,
and I think at one point Poirot looks out at the window, and I saw
nannies with prams, people on 1930s bikes, we saw cars, way into the
distance children playing, all in 30s costumes, and thats when I
thought to myself, wow, Im in something so special... [slowly nodding
his head].
I had to do a mixture - of French and Belgian, but I also need to speak
English - so I listen to English speaking Belgian radio, English
speaking French radio.
Now once Ive done that - I couldnt use my own voice - well, listen to
my voice, its down here [placing one hand at at his chest while
holding the other at on his stomach], but Poirot is a head voice
[placing the hand from his chest up on his forehead] - so what I had to
do was, start with my voice down here [placing his hands down in
front of his stomach] think [switching to a Charles Boyer/Aznavour
alike accent] a lit(t)le bit about Freennch accaang, or som(e)thinng like
thaat, ta(l)kinng, and then you have the [switch to an accent with
the harsch Flemish glottal stop] glottal sounds of the Flemish here
coming!!!
Part 1 suite : How it all began
Do they think, they can get rid of Hercule
Poirot like that! No!......... No, no... no, no,
no... no! Thirty-six times, NO!"

Poirots reaction when the Tods dismiss him
from the case of the disappeared Eliza Dunn in
the episode The Adventure of the Clapham
Cook, the rst episode Suchet appeared in as
Poirot.
Poirot is a head voice...
And then you mix the Flemish with the French and the
sound, something like thiis, and a little like thaat, but you raise
your voice slightly [voice becomes lighter], and it goes to the
chest [one hand at slightly and repeatedly beating his chest
while moving upwards, keeping the accent] and then it goes to
the throat, and then you put in a little Belgian, a little French,
up, up, up... [hands going higher and voice going lighter and
Poirots voice takes over] and there you are, you have (H)ercule
Poirot!... [Suchet pauses and smiles broadly. Somebody in the
background applauses and laughs].
3
How it all began...
My most intriguing mystery

Suchet: I think Agatha Christie... er... is one of the great
mystery and intrigue writers. Not so much for her plots....
I think shes great because of her characterizations. I
think thats where she really scores. She has great heroines,
great detectives, great villains, she has great knowledge herself
of drugs, because she herself was a dispensing chemist in
the First WW... I think Agatha Christie has a sense of
mystery all around herself, as well...
and in a sense for me one of the great mixtures that Agatha
Christie puts in with character and plot... er... intrigue,
mystery and very clever... for me? The ABC Murders! Its
as simple as the murderer decides to kill according to the
alphabet. And where do you go with that...
Its with an actor, a wonderful actor called Donald
Sumpter, to playing Cust, and he is suspected of being the
murderer, and he is put into jail, and I visit him in jail -
and I think as far as actors are concerned, here in terms
of craft, less is more...

I remember, there is only two of us in the scene... and a
lot of it was, er, prole, and just very quietly, two fully
rounded characters, confronting one another... in a very
small area of the jail cell... er... and looking back over all
the years that Ive done Poirot, that scene with Donald
has to be... one of my very favourites.

Scenes come together in very many different ways.
Sometimes the director has a very rm concept of how he
wants it shot, er, but the best scenes - er, er - come together
when its a collaboration. Er - Ill have done my
homework, the other actors have done their homework,
the directors have done their homework, and there is so
little time to rehearse, so you rush together before
th... before you do the scene, er, you block it through, [in]
another words you block... er... you, you hit certain marks
that the director would like to hit and in so doing, youre
talking about the scene. And you say: "Well, maybe,
because this is here, like this, maybe if I move over there,
and there and there and there", and then he says: "Oh
yes, well yes! Yes, because if you could do that, I could do a
prole... on you there, and then maybe you could come
very close together so that nose almost touches the nose,
and yes! That would help that line, because that would
make that very, very tense, and"... - so, the best of scenes is
when everybody is working together!
When acting these mysteries and these stories, you know,
and I come back to this again and again and again - its
vital to take it seriously! There is much at stake! Er, and -
if the writing is good, and the production values are good,
and the music is good, and the story is good, and the
characters above all, l Christie, a[re] true, real, some
are dark, some are light, they ar.. er... they all have
colours, youre gonna get a great, great mystery...
Part 2 : My Most Intriguing Mystery
- so that nose almost touches the nose...
Donald Sumpter and David Suchet in The ABC Murders
4
Suchet: Theres a lot of humour in them, I hope there is, anyway - but I
hope it's subtle humour, in the same way as the books have a lot of
humour. Er - the short stories actually contain, I think, perhaps [even?]
more humour than the big long stories, where she gets really involved in
the plot. But all the humour is of eccentricity. My humour for example,
the humour of Poirot, is always of eccentricity or situation, where he
nds himself with the sort of people that he - er - nds himself - talking
to, that sort of thing...
Part 3 : My most humorous episode...
-I'm not a bloody, little frog! I'm a
bloody, little Belgian! - The Mystery of
the Spanish Chest
Whenever I do those comedy moments, I remember, dont let them laugh at... make
them laugh or smile with... and thats of his eccentricity. You must never hopefully
see me, the actor, telling you Im being funny...

One particularly episode I remember, is called The Veiled Lady - [?] with a
wonderful performance with Frances Barber [for one ?] - but Poirot has to get into
disguise because he - he actually takes on the role of a burglar - I wont spoil the
plot or anything like that, but he does, and he gets in disguise. And, ah - the amount
of discussion, how... what will he wear, what will he not wear, what will he wea.. it
had to be real. Well of course seeing Poirot in disguise is funny, anyway. But it
mustnt be a costume that commented on that. Poirots moustache actually drooped.
I think its the only time you ever see it - down, er - and once again, must not be
commented on. But Ive got so many letters saying that people loved that episode,
because they laughed and they laughed and they laughed - and of course, the great
thing about it was, I didnt know I was being funny...
I think its very important to bring out the humour in the right way, because they
are not Who-dunnits - they are How-dunnits! How Poirot solves the murder! You
all know, you have all seen the murder, there is no mystery about the murder. In the
end its how did he found out who, because nobody else can... Its not just any
detective. Its this quirky little Belgian with the funny moustaches and the - and the
egg-shaped head - its the man, who cant eat two boiled eggs given to him if they
- I am the locksmith! - The Veiled Lady
are not exactly the same size. Whose the speck of dust on his shoulder is as painful to him as a bullet wound! He once
wore a watch in stead of a - a fob, around his waist [Suchet switches four times between looking at his watch on his left
hand and an imaginary fob in his right hand, while saying] and he couldn't, he couldnt, he - he couldnt, he couldnt make
it work... Its these characteristics, its his hot chocolate night, his - his mufe around his neck, his sneezing, his colds, his
hypochondria... its all this, that are both amusing, delighting the audience, delighting the reader, who can smile and laugh,
and then be drawn right in, when he uses his famous [switch to Poirot accent] little grey cells!
Oh, it looks so easy now, doesnt it? [saying, while laughing] I ca... it was... it was
hours and days and weeks and weeks and weeks and... Its alright having a dossier like
that about a character, but in a - in a sense its terrible [laughing] having a dossier like
that about the character, because every page is lled with... with
character... characteristics! And I didnt want just to get a paintbrush and just paint
on that little man, I didnt! - I wanted to become his shape, so before we started
shooting, I would - I would drive them crazy with costume ttings, padding
ttings... Er - you know, I was developing his eye. I would say: "No, that side of the
jacket is a millimetre longer than the other side of the jacket", and they would look at
me and go: "What!".... And I would say: "No, it is, its not right, its not right, its gotta be
perfect, its gotta be this than the other..." er - it had to be right...
The size of a Poirot-dossier...
5
My most humorous episode...
My favourite male star
Suchet: Its so difcult to choose... - you know, who are my favourite male stars, co-
stars - but - er - yeah, well, although I say its difcult, its not really, because - er,
these have to bee Hugh Fraser, who plays Hastings and Phil Jackson, who plays
inspector Japp. They are not only wonderful actors, wonderful people, but the
characters they have embodied and made them totally themselves, and as far as
Hugh [laughs] Phil Jackson is concerned, I know, because I played inspector Japp,
er, so badly myself very long time ago. So he has done a magic job with his. And
Hugh - er - how difcult it is, actually, to play that character with someone like
Poirot. All the time, having to say things like [imitating Hastings voice]: I say,
Poirot... er: Good God! And all that sor-trying, you know, its very hard, and, and
hes maintained it over the years fantastically. Er, Japp - er, always getting it wrong,
so that Poirot can get it right...
My two - little, er, favourite moments, really, had nothing to do with the stories, they
had to do with meeting. But in the moments of meeting - Hastings and Japp - you
will se how the different characters respond. And the rst time, I remember this
happening, was with Hugh Fraser in, well, the rst story that Agatha Christie ever
wrote about Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. And, er - Poirots, you know,
visiting the Bel-Belgium refugees [in? of ?] the First World War, and he rst met
Hastings in the First World War in Belgium or in France, wherever, and - they meet
for the rst time in England in a country village...
Part 4 : My favourite male star
- I dont know why I bother,
sometimes I may as well stay at
home and do my garden!
Poirot: "Hastings?" Hastings: "Good Lord -
Monsieur Poirot!" Poirot: "It is indeed, mon
ami, Hastings!
Hastings: "I was talking about you only the
other day!" Poirot: "Oh, mon ami, mon
ami!"
And with Japp? It was in the story called The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Very
famous story, a great story, but Poirot had retired almost, he h-had given up, and he
hadnt seen Japp for ages. And - there is a wonderful moment when they meet. And
you see the difference when meeting Hastings in The Mysterious Affair at Styles
and the meeting between Poirot and Inspector Japp.
Hugs and kisses are not Japp's 'cup of
tea...'
- a handshake is more like it...
6
Suchet: And I remember being on set one day, I remember it very vividly... I was
asked to put sugar in my, my tea. Now, he puts so many teaspoons, but when it
comes to sugar lumps - I was at a loss! Do I take t-three? Was it ve? Was it four?
Was it? - and I couldnt remember, and I didnt have my sheets of paper - and
were shooting! Now - I, it doesnt sound important, does it, but it was to me,
because Im - you know, Ive always said, Im the most difcult person, that I have
to live with, because Im a perfectionist. I had to get it right! So, I rang home! To
my wife! And I said...: Sheila, where, where is this peace of
paper, can you nd the peace of paper with all the
characteristics of Poirot! What! Yeah, so and so and so -
How many lumps of sugar does he take! Well I didnt say
that, actually, [be]cause [I was saying ?] [switch to Poirot
accent]: How many lumps of sugar does Poirot take? Can you
please tell to me, how many lumps of sugar... - You know, she
is used to this, its ok, it happens, you know... So, [laughing] she
says - she nds the peace of paper, and Ive written on it - she
says - er...: Three! [switch to Poirot accent]: Oh, no, three! I
think... [switch to his own voice] Hold on, hold on -
sometimes ve! [switch to Poirot accent again]: Ah, thank
you - good bye!.... [laughing] - I mean... yeah, [?] crazy [?] I
mean... - but you gotta get it right, you gotta get it right,
because thats what makes him so special...
My all time favourite...
Suchet/Poirot calls for help in the case of a famous
detectives sugar habits...
Part 5 : My all time favourite...
Everytime I do a, a, a, a story, I think to myself, as I go home at the end: I
think that was my favourite, you know, I think that was my favourite...' - and
I havent nished them all yet, I mean there is still, er, at the moment of
speaking, there is still 12 more to go! But - if Im forced to - er, choose - I
would - pick out Death on the Nile. Id choose it because - er - I was
working with the most fantastic cast. You have so many wonderful actors.
Faces that everybody will recognize. In a terric story. And the setting! I
mean, for me to actually nd myself... not only in Egypt... but amongst all
those ancient monuments. I mean, this is British TV at its most expensive -
and as far as Im concerned, it, it looked fantastic! And I was lming on the
boat, the same boat that was used by Peter Ustinov in his big movie version.
So we aint cutting corners here, this is, this is big time! I was very aware that
it was Peter Ustinovs, Poirots, boat. And when I rst s-took my s-rst step on
that boat, and I went up the stairs - and I thought, yeah, I remember these
stairs... I remember the... - and Im gonna be playing him...
I think, I still have that... youthful, joyful naivety - er, about playing Hercule
Poirot. And I suppose, it really came in to the fore, when I was actually
stepping on to that boat, because I was literally stepping into Peters shoes at
that time. Er - I loved it! I always get excited, every time Im asked to do
anything with Poirot - and Ive always been asked, do I get bored, because
Ive played him for, what, now 18, well, the best part of twenty years. And
the answer is: no. How can I get bored playing such a fascinating, little
quirky man, who happens to be the greatest detective in the world, with some
of the greatest mystery stories ever written, by one of our greatest mystery
writers. Bored? I should clap my hands and say thank you every night...
Suchet (in white) just about to step into Peters
shoes...
'Death on the Nile' by night... One of the
beautiful sceneries...

7
Poirot is a most interesting character apart from anything else, because he is - er -
A: an outsider - in - this country, anyway, but he is also an outsider socially. Er -
hes also got a very dark side, hes, hes a, hes a lonely man... Er - I think, Ive said
before, that he believes the relationship with a man and woman, er, a loving
relationship, is the greatest gift of God, especially when it ends up in marriage.
And he himself very often in Agatha Christies books says: "I wish,
I had married". And - I try and bring out this quality of Poirot
more and more, because I think that, er, it is important. - Er, you
know, he lives alone, he has a - man servant, but he is alone in all
ways. And he has become self-sufcient, because hes had to
become self-sufcient.

But when, when I do have the opportunity of - not falling in love
with another woman on or in the lms - but when I - those women
that Im with, will often - make - me aware of my own solitude. Er,
one thing that I can think of is, when he was an avuncular to - a
character called Katherine Grey, played by Georgina Rylance in
The Blue Train. She decides to go off travelling on her own,
and this comes as a surprise to Poirot. But the surprise [?] itself, I
hope for you, the audience, in a sense of loss. In a sense of
realization that once more he is on his own...
My loneliness as Poirot...
- on his own... once more...
Part 6 : My loneliness as Poirot...
There is another time, there is a lovely character called Jacqueline
De Bellefort, played by Emma Malin, in Death on the Nile,
where the writers wonderfully have me, Poirot, come to her [on ?]
an evening scene on board the ship, that he reveals to her - the loss
of his life, again...
Poirot: "Love is not everything!" Jacqueline: "Oh, but it
is! It is! You must know that, Monsieur Poirot... Surely
you understand... "
"It is terrible, Mademoiselle... All that I have missed
in life... "
Lord Edgware dies has a character called Jane Wilkinson. Poirot
says: The ticking of a woman has always been a mystery to
Poirot. And he says it in such a way - er, that I remember saying it
in such a way, that, it may have been a mystery... its the-possibly
the only mystery, hes never solved... but one that hed like to have
solved...

They way I try and play him, is, Im not asking you to feel sorry
for Poirot. Because Poirot doesnt feel sorry for himself. In fact he
ghts not to. But yes, theres, er, I think there are lot of people
whove watched the series, that actually - would love Poirot to -
meet someone - er, to, not only love him, but that he could release
and, and, and love - love a lady. And - he wished he could, too...
8
My favourite leading lady...
Suchet: Ive had so many wonderful leading ladies that it would be almost
invidious, I mean, obviously my rst choice would be Pauline Moran, who
plays Miss Lemon, but thats, in a sense, that is not a leading - leading lady, in,
er, in, er, shes not with me al the way through each episode. I would like to
pick one, actually, if I had to, and I - will have to, Ill pick Elisabeth Dermot
Walsh, who plays Ellinor Carlisle, in Sad Cypress. I think her performance in
that lm - for me was... just extraordinary. There is one scene in particular I
remember, when Poirot visits her in the jail, and shes acting one side of the
glass, and Poirot is at the other side of the glass. And....... shes in a class of her own! Thats when it works, when people
really act from their heart, and the best leading ladies - work from that and therefore engage with Poirot on a very truthful
level. If they take him seriously - him, me, me, him - seriously - you will, too...
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh: David has an amazing quality, where - h-he just is Poirot, when hes acting, and hes, er, playing the
character. And even though we were looking through the glass at each other, it was just very easy to forget that there were
cameras there, and it was too hot and... because we were to play this really quite intimate scene - almost more intimately
than if there hadnt been a peace of glass between us - because with that protection we could be much more, sort of - open
with each other, or I-my character could be with him, obviously, Hercule is obviously
Part 7 : My favourite leading lady...
Poirot - leaves
- a devastated Ellinor behind glass...
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh: He remains in character all day on set, which is - so
[brilliant ?] for [to ?] maintain the kind of reality of what we are trying to - do... It
was delightful to touch him, as Poirot, and - there are some, there is a party sequence,
I think, where we have a sort of chat, where we rst meet. And, er - we had a chance
to have a bit of a chat, as Ellinor and Poirot, which was like really charming and
delightful, and we knew, you know, that we were just playing, but it really helped with
playing subsequent scenes as well - to have little chats in character, but with a twinkle
in each others eyes, knowing that we were just pretending and playing...
The lovely Elisabeth Dermot Walsh
t e l l i n g
Suchet: One of the most exciting episodes I played was, er, The Chocolate
Box. It presented so many challenges for me, because I, you will see Poirot
for o-the rst time ever as a young police-ofcer - as well as the middle
aged Poirot. So I had to almost work backwards for that character to nd
the young Poirot. But whats special - is in that - episode - he does fall in
love - and he falls in love with a beautiful girl called Virginie Mesnard,
played by Anna Chancellor. And its in this episode, that he gets given his
lit-tle silver - vase, er, that he wears as a broche. And people have always
asked me, where did I get that from, where does Poirot get that from - well,
he got it from Virginie Mesnard, from a girl that he fell in love with, in The
Chocolate Box...
The little silver vase...
- Poirot got from Virginie
Mesnard...
- a girl, he fell in love
with...
9
Poirot almost gets it wrong
Suchet: Poirot - has no doubt that hes always going to be right. I mean,
th-this is - as far as hes concerned: [Poirot shows up in a clip from an
episode, saying: I am the best! I am Hercule Poirot!] - and he doesnt
say that modestly! [While laughing]: He is not a, a modest man. He
believes it - er, and, and, er, he is right! Er - he thinks that - Sherlock
Holmes is very good, er, but its ction...! [laughs for a long time and
says]: Ah - love it! And, er, he, he is not, he is real. And of course, er, as
far as hes concerned, theres no [switch to Poirot accent]: there is never
Part 8 : Poirot almost gets it wrong
"I am the best!"
any doubt that it would be so, because I am
Hercule Poirot, ah!
But he sometimes gets caught out, and very
often, er, both in the books and in our series
you see Poirot very nearly getting it wrong.
And I suppose it is one of the few times that
you really see Poirot getting emotional, when
he gets it wrong. But when he does get it
wrong, he has no [?] at all, [he is ?] getting
"I am Hercule Poirot!"
very angry with himself and calling himself an idiot and an imbecile! And er - er, er, sometimes he will call himself
a [switch to Poirot accent] "dimwit!". Er, something completely out of character, because hed never normally admit to this
sort of thing... And Sad Cypress, very, very much so he gets caught out, and admits - er, to somebody in the room, what an
idiot he is, and thats quite, you know, as a character to tell another character - [switch to Poirot accent]: I am an
imbecile!................" Poirot does it, because thats hes greatest crime to himself ! Getting it wrong! He could never get it
See, often, nearly always has Poirot have a moment of revelation, when he knows the
truth, and - very often hell just be sitting very quietly with his eyes closed - green
eyes by the way, and if you look closely [Suchet looks directly into the camera, eyes
wide open] - mine are brown. But when we started doing the series, I didnt, I
couldnt wear - colour contact lenses, [I felt ?] rather relieved I couldnt, because I,
you just have to [?] with the fact that my eyes are not his colour. I think thats about
the only thing - er, th-where we differ, but - what he, what she says is, with his eyes
closed - he will think and meditate upon - the crime, and then he gets this moment of
revelation, and he will smile, and the eyes will open and glow greener than before.
But hes very famous with just keeping his eyes closed [Suchet closes his eyes and
demonstrates Poirots expression during meditation and revelation and then suddenly
opens his eyes, saying]: Got it! - Got it! And everybody knows, he has... !
Got it! Got it!
The expression on Poirot's face when
the person who "did-it" turns out to
be someone else than expected...
10
My most challenging location
Suchet: I do remember this, I mean, er, I, I really dont want to lm there again
in the heat, and that was Tunesia. And it was so hot, I was sitting in the car,
and I had to drive in - and stop, get out of the car and walk into - the building.
Simple as that. That was the shot. But I was left for some time, waiting, while
the camera was f-set up and everything, and my car had no roof on, so it was a
convertible - and, I didnt realise it, well, I felt all right, but I drove in - on
action, drove in, opened the door... goo, er, stood up on the pavement - and
collapsed! I had to be given oxygen, I had, er, almost heat [?], so that, that was,
er... that was not funny!
Well, because I, you know, I w-wore, Im-I got this wing collar and tie, and then I got
the padding underneath that, you know, the big padding and the waist coat and the... er, in
temperatures that were really, really up in the thirties - really high, but the most challenging
location, as far as acting was concerned, has to be The Blue Train. Oh, yes, you know, its
gotta be The Blue Train. Although there are a lot of, er, lovely exteriors in Cannes, and
wonderful, but when it came to - the summing up... we built the train! There was the train!
In all its connes, literally connes, and that was proved to be the most difcult summing
up, Id ever had to do, because all the suspects were in a line, and I had this narrow little
corridor to walk down... - and very difcult to get camera angles for the camera crew...
and, and, er - it was very, very challenging and very hot inside the studio, we were doing it
in the summer, as well... I was always in front of the people, that I was confronting, I - I
couldnt go behind... Sometimes when Poirot goes behind the chair, you can see the person -
aware that hes there and all that, but this was absolutely face to face with every s-character
that I had to, had to confront. And in the end, funnily enough - if Im allowed to say this - I
think its probably one of the most exciting.
Part 9 : My most challenging
Fin
If you like the - coup de thtre for Poirot, its the summing up, I mean, that is, because he could - I mean, Agatha
Christie could - have had Poirot come in, into the drawing room or The Blue Train or wherever and say - [switch to
Poirot accent]: It was you! Er, but he does, er, she doesnt have that. He knows who it is, and yet he puts [burst into
laughter] he puts everybody through hell! He makes everybody feel guilty! And, er - he goes on for a very long time in
the books, and on every television show it is the last act. The whole of the last act is Poirot summing up, and for me,
the actor, of course is, is, is, is glorious, because it is my peace of theatre, as well as Poirots peace of theatre... I look
forward to it and dread it at the same time... Its become a very big moment in the, for the viewing public, and in fact
Ive got several letters at home, which tell me - that... theyre watching the, er - episode - live, at home... start recording
when I start my summing up. They all go out and have dinner... they come back... - and during dinner they have laid,
lay bets on, who they think - have committed the crime...! And then they play my summing up! To see who was right...

Summing up... - on very little space... - face to face...
January 2008 All rights

David Suchet Poirot

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Retranscription sur Pages du site www.bricksite.

com/davidsuchet Sanna Hechmann January 2008(Danemark)

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